The Barbour Realty sign that once stood for four years in front Daniel Barbour’s office at 478 County St. isn't the only thing missing in action.

There's also an outstanding $35,000 business loan he took out with the city that needs to be explained.

Two weeks after the fifth-term City Councilman's office building was sold at a foreclosure auction, Taunton's newly appointed city solicitor, Jason Buffington, is looking into why the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development (MOECD) issued the loan in 2007 — and how the city will recover its still-to-be-determined loss.

A foreclosure auctioneer this month liquidated the property of the 42-year-old Barbour, now the city's longest running councilor since being elected in 2003.

Adding a bit of a dramatic twist was a Taunton police blotter entry just over a week ago describing a spat between Barbour and his cousin who bought the property.

Remaining balance

The question now is how much Barbour still owed prior to the Jan. 4 auction sale, and whether the city is in a position to recoup any of the outstanding balance.

Buffington, who previously served on City Council alongside Barbour, said he learned about the loan within the past week.

The city solicitor wouldn’t speculate as to any potential impropriety or conflict of interest, but said the city’s legal team needs to investigate further.

“The law department is aware of the situation,” Buffington said on Friday. “We’re looking into it and will explore all of the city’s options, in order to put the city in the best legal position possible to recover the balance that’s due.”

Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. also said he just last week learned about the foreclosure sale and the MOECD’s $35,000 loan to Barbour.

“We’ll be taking appropriate steps so that the city is protected,” Hoye said.

Barbour took out the 3-percent 10-year loan on Dec. 6, 2007, according to a mortgage document and promissory note on file at the Northern Bristol County Registry of Deeds.

He paid $255,000 in 2007 for the two-story house and eventually converted the building into a working office space.

The MOECD loan was actually a second mortgage on the property: Barbour, just one day earlier, secured a $204,000 mortgage loan from Taunton’s Mechanics Cooperative Bank.

A foreclosure deed filed by Mechanics indicates it sold the building and real estate this month for $170,500 to Bruce M. Thomas, Barbour’s cousin, and Konstaninos Frangakis, the latter of whom owns a Greek-style restaurant further south on County Street.

Calls seeking comment from both Thomas and Frangakis were not returned.

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Third foreclosure

Barbour, a Realtor and broker, not unlike other real estate professionals, has had his share of bad business luck during the past couple of years as the housing market crashed and stagnated.

He lost two other properties to foreclosure, one in 2010 and the other in 2011, both of which have since been sold at auction.

Former Taunton mayor Charles Crowley said he didn’t know Barbour had secured an MOECD loan.

“It’s not my call — I played no role,” Crowley said. “Quite frankly, I didn’t know he did it until now.”

But a U.S. Bankruptcy Court form, signed by Crowley in March 2011, signaled the city’s attempt to seek a claim against Barbour for the loan.

The form lists the value of the 478 County St. property as $172,525 and Barbour’s arrears, or outstanding debt, at the time as $5,069. It also specifically describes the MOECD loan as a small business loan.

Former City Solicitor Jordan Fiore said he remembers receiving and filing the form after it being signed by the former mayor. But Fiore said there’s a strong possibility Crowley at the time had not paid close attention to what the document represented.

“He may not have understood what was being presented (by Kevin Shea),” Fiore said.

Fiore said the city’s law department initially opposed a motion for relief as part of the bankruptcy proceeding, but eventually dropped its opposition when the risk of being assessed extra costs became more likely.

Wells Fargo Bank, in October 2011, was granted a motion for relief from stay by the court — which also dismissed Barbour’s January bankruptcy-protection petition for failing to adhere to an agreed-upon payment plan to creditors. By then, those arrears amounted to $8,304, a court document shows.

According to Taunton’s assessor’s online database, the building and land at 478 County St. were most recently valued at $184,400.

Bad blood

On Saturday afternoon, Dec. 14, two days after the bank signed off on the foreclosure deed, Taunton police responded to a reported “breaking and entering in progress” at 478 County St.

Thomas, 44, reportedly explained that Barbour and two people with him were removing boxes and belongings from the building, and a disagreement ensued when they began to remove the wooden Barbour Realty sign.

Thomas told cops the sign should be considered part of the property and belonged to him.

The officer decided the dispute was of a civil, not criminal, nature, but offered to assist the cousins in finding a mutually agreed-upon location to store the sign until the disagreement could be resolved.

“He can have it. He can burn it for all I care,” Barbour said, according to the police report.